Day 38: So Long, Soft Drinks

I first thought about it when I noticed an entire grocery aisle devoted to it.

As we near the end, Laura and I have been talking about what will actually change about our lives after A Dollar to Remember is finished. For me, one difference is to cut down on the number of carbonated drinks I buy.

All last month, I drank almost nothing but water. I just couldn't afford other drinks. And most didn't offer me any nutrition anyway.

This is not to say that carbonated drinks are all bad. I just see too many of them in my own life. For me, they're an indulgence that I realize isn't healthy and costs money that could go elsewhere.

So why should I drink them?


On a sidenote, I tried to buy healthy for my last full week of groceries. Here's what I bought on Wednesday:

Day 37: Sympathy or Empathy?

"Oh, sorry"

I've heard this phrase so many times in the past month. It usually happens after someone eats or talks about eating around me.

• "Man, I love these peanut M&Ms!" (oh, sorry)
• "Here, have a cookie." (oh, sorry)
• "You wanna go to IHOP with us for pancakes?" (oh, sorry)

I've noticed this happening more and more. Let me say just a few things about it:

1. I completely understand. I would say (and have said) the same thing in your shoes.
2. But I feel bad that you feel bad about my situation. It makes me feel... pitiful.
3. I don't feel bad about my own situation, so condolences really aren't necessary.

Realizing these things now makes my re-think my own perspective on poverty. My sorries don't do much good here. If anything, they probably make things a bit worse.

So what would help?

For me, I couldn't go without a Barnabas.

In the book of Acts, this man Barnabas came alongside the apostles--especially the apostle Paul--in some tough times. Barnabas wasn't even his real name. His real name was Joseph. But the apostles nicknamed him Barnabas, which means Son of Encouragement.


That's what I really need--a son of encouragement.

I'm not trying to make anyone feel bad about the things they've said or done. I just want to be able to look back on this experience long after it's complete (after I've forgotten what it feels like) and remember.

They don't want pity or sorries. They just want a little encouragement.

Day 36: The Un-Won War

Over 40 years ago, President Lyndon Baines Johnson declared war on poverty in his first State of the Union address. Here is a short clip of his words on the issue:



"Unfortunately, many Americans live on the outskirts of hope--some because of their poverty, and some because of their color, and all too many because of both. Our task is to help replace their despair with opportunity.

This administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America. I urge this Congress and all Americans to join with me in that effort.

It will not be a short or easy struggle, no single weapon or strategy will suffice, but we shall not rest until that war is won."
[Read or hear LBJ's entire speech at americanrhetoric.com.]


So what happened to this war on poverty? Why is the war still un-won?

I'm not trying to make any sort of political statement. I've just been thinking about the origins and effects of poverty lately. Then I read a part of 1 Samuel 2 this morning that shed some light:

"The LORD sends poverty and wealth;
he humbles and he exalts."

John Gill, respected 18th century theologian, helps translate the meaning of this passage. He writes:

"That there is such a difference among men in general, that some should be poor, and others rich, is owing to the wise providence of God, that men may be dependent on one another."

That makes sense. If a person is in poverty, the very next verse in 1 Samuel tells how the LORD will lift them up. But if a person is more in wealth, he too must submit to the Giver of those blessings and share with those less fortunate. God is infinitely wise over both.

Rightly enacted, this situation does create a dependence that shows sacrificial love on both ends. The war on poverty may be long-running, but in the meantime, I can look to the God who created us all and share the things He has given me.

It's hard. But it's good.

Day 35: Avoiding Asceticism

Asceticism. I'd heard the word used before, but I was never quite sure what it meant.

Here's the Dictionary.com defintion:

as·cet·i·cism –noun
the doctrine that a person can attain a high spiritual and moral state by practicing self-denial, self-mortification, and the like.

C.S. Lewis addresses the dangers of this specifically in his book The Problem of Pain. He writes:

"Ascetic practices which, in themselves, strengthen the will, are only useful insofar as they enable the will to put its own house (the passions) in order, as a preparation for offering the whole the man to God... As an end, they would be abominable, for in substituting will for appetite and there stopping, they would merely exchange the animal self for the diabolical self." [emphasis added]

Chilling. In other words, when used as a means, self-denial can bring us into closer intimacy with God. But used merely as an end, self-denial feeds self-reliance which will eat me alive.


This was good for me to read in light of my current eating. Honestly, I have been a bit impressed with myself lately for carrying this experience through (since I'd never imagined I'd be able to make it this far). I can already feel the self-reliance.

It's a good reminder to hear that A Dollar to Remember is only as valuable as the degree to which it draws me nearer to my Lord, not to myself.

Thank you, C.S. Lewis, for a good kick in the pants on this. I needed it, and I am grateful.

Day 34: I Cannot Do It

I've been thinking a lot about injustice lately. But I was reading in Genesis this morning, and I think few people have experienced as much injustice as Joseph did.

• His brothers sold him to traveling merchants out of jealousy (37:28)
• He was thrown into prison because he refused to sleep with Pharaoh's wife (39:20)
• He was forgotten by a man who might have be the key to his freedom (40:23)

Still, one small phrase stood out to me as I read Joseph's story.

Just before he is restored to second-in-command over all of Egypt, he is brought before Pharaoh, the man in charge. Pharaoh asks Joseph to interpret his recent dreams. Joseph can. We've seen him rightly interpret dreams many times already so far. Yet he responds to Pharaoh like this:

"I cannot do it, but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires."




I suppose in some ways I understand that moment. Even though I have less than two weeks left for eating on a dollar a day, I feel like I don't have the strength left to make it.

Maybe that's the whole point. I cannot do it.

But my God can. And He will pull me through.

Day 33: The Hour That Wasn't There

The sun is shining as I write this. Yesterday, it would've already been dark by this time.

Last night was Daylight Savings Time here. Not everywhere in the world does it, but I like it--especially in the spring. Overnight, all our clocks get set forward an hour, and suddenly the sun stays up longer the following days.

Just before I fell asleep last night, I wondered, "What happens to the hour between 2:00 and 3:00, when the clocks just automatically skip forward? What happens to the hour that isn't there?"

That one hour seems like a hole in time. I wasn't sleeping at 2:30 last night because 2:30 didn't exist. Weird.

Now that I'm fully awake to think about it, I see that time didn't really change last night at all. But something else did. We changed our frame of reference for time. We just scooted our time-measurers (clocks) forward, and began calling that point in time something else. We simply changed 2:00 to 3:00.

That frame-of-reference shift changed everything.


I think this dollar-a-day process has done the same thing for me.

My frame of reference for looking at the poor has suddenly shifted. Now that I've walked a mile in their shoes (as best as I can), I see things in a new light. I see what it might be like. I see how difficult it can be.

In the past month, my 2:00 has shifted to 3:00. I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but I somewhere along the way my thinking has changed.

All I know is that I'm thankful for the experience--and for the shift.

I'm thankful for the hour that wasn't there.

Day 32: Thirsty

"Come, all you who are thirsty."

I read this yesterday in the book of Isaiah. I write in every book I read--including the Bible. In the margins next to this verse, I had written a note to myself sometime earlier. It read:

am i thirsty?

I thought about this yesterday. It really made a lot more sense to me in light of all that's been happening over the past month.

There is one way we can all become thirsty--figuratively and literally.

For the last two weeks of A Dollar to Remember, we are inviting people to join us by drinking only water until Easter and donating the money saved from other drinks to help build clean-water wells in Africa. [See yesterday's post for complete details.]

It's called Blood:Water Mission. Here is a video on the project:



"am i thirsty?"